6 Awesome Apps for Language Arts

Grammar PopiOS. $1.99. Grades 5–8
Make a game of grammar with this standards-aligned app. Kids match words with parts of speech, and as the game goes on, they tackle tougher sentences.

Writing WizardiOS. $2.99. Grades PreK–1
Liven up handwriting lessons with this colorful tracing app, which invites kids to play with animated versions of the letters they trace. “I love that students get rewarded for their hard work,” says RhoLynda Hamm, a first-grade teacher at Benjamin Banneker Elementary in Loveville, Maryland.

Strip DesigneriOS. $2.99. Grades 4–8
Inspire reluctant writers with this supercool assignment: Create your own graphic novel! Students customize comic-book templates with original text, clip art, imported images, and more as they tell their stories.

WordGirl Word HuntiOS. $0.99. Grades 1–3
Choose the right words to help WordGirl defeat the villains in this game-based vocabulary app. Students reinforce vocab lessons and learn more than 100 definitions through context clues, all while saving the day.

Write About ThisiOS. $3.99. Grades PreK–5
Kick-start opinion and narrative writing with creative, image-based writing prompts. “Students can add their own pictures and create their own prompts,” says Nancy Carroll, a fourth-grade teacher at Boyden Elementary School in South Walpole, Massachusetts.

KindleiOS and Android. Free. All ages
The Kindle app is an “indispensable” tool for independent reading in Jason Kline’s fourth- and fifth-grade classes at EAGLE Charter School in Salem, Oregon. “I love how students can interact with the text,” says Kline. “It makes looking up difficult words so much easier.”